Exempting export promotion schemes such as Advance Authorisation Scheme and EPCG from payment of GST till March 31 next year will lead to spurt in investments in the textile sector, said Ujwal R. Lahoti, chairman of Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council. He has said in a press release that 40 % of India’s textile exports are by merchant exporters. By providing the facility that they need to pay a nominal amount of 0.1 % as GST while claiming goods from manufacturers for exports will ensure that there is no cash flow problem. According to Sanjay K. Jain, chairman of the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry, processing of refund claims for July exports by October 10 and for August exports by October 18 and decision to create e-wallet from next April will improve the cash flow for exporters. This will resolve the problem of blocking of working capital for exporters. He was hopeful that the GST council will soon consider refund of the accumulated input tax credit at fabric stage, especially for processed fabric. Chairman of Southern India Mills’ Association P. Nataraj has said in a press release that the industry had been appealing to the GST council to reduce GST rate on man-made yarn to 12 % from 18 %. This has been addressed by the council by reducing the rate to 12 % for MMF filament yarn, MMF spun yarn and filament sewing thread. The GST council should mandate the duty drawback committee to recommend appropriate duty drawback rates and Rebate of State Levies rates to sustain exports, he said. Prabhu Dhamodharan, convenor of Indian Texpreneurs’ Federation, said that by reducing the GST rate for MMF and blended yarn to 12 %, the credit blockage for weaving sector will be minimal. Export of garments made of manmade fibre and blends is growing rapidly. With this favourable duty structure, more players will be motivated to enter it and cost competitiveness of Indian products will improve. According to the president of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore, Vanitha Mohan, the option of quarterly filing of returns and payment of taxes by small businesses, rate cut on 27 items, and rationalisation of job work rates will bring to small businesses. However, the Government should announce more concessions for specific sectors in the MSME area.
Source: The Hindu
MUMBAI: Textile merchant exporters have heaved a sigh of relief with the Central government allowing them to pay a nominal GST of 0.1 per cent on the goods manufactured for exports. The move will ease unnecessary blockage of working capital as, otherwise, exporters would pay the GST and wait for refunds. Merchant exporters account for 40 per cent of overall textile exports from India.After the roll out of GST, the government slashed duty drawback on garment exports to 2 per cent from 7.5 per cent. Ujwal R Lahoti, Chairman, Texprocil, said the facility given to merchant exporters on goods manufactured for export will ensure that they do not face cash flow problems. This apart, he said the measures exempting export promotion schemes such as Advance Authorisation Scheme and Export Promotion Capital Goods from GST till March-end should lead to a spurt in investments. Complimenting Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for the far reaching relief given to the exporting community at the GST Council Meeting held last Friday, Lahoti said the government has tried to resolve exporters’ liquidity issues by ensuring that refund of GST paid in July and August will be done by October 10 and 18. The Council also reduced GST on Manmade Fibre Yarn to 12 per cent from 18 per cent and Duty Credit Scrips to zero from 5 per cent to boost exports. These measures would instil confidence in exporters and enable them to work towards achieving the export targets, Lahoti added.
Source: Business Line
The Modi government's initiatives like Swachh Bharat, Goods and Services Tax (GST) and demonetisation are having desired impact, the latter two resulting in increasing tax compliance and squeezing quantum of cash in the economy, finance minister Arun Jaitley has said. In his key note address - via video conference - to the Berkeley India Conference, Jaitley said that there is public support to the reforms being undertaken by the governments of the day both at the Centre and state levels. "I do hope that India is able to retain its growth rate once again and live up to the aspirations of its people because we must not forget that we not only have a large population to service, we have a very young population to service," he said. The Union finance minister is scheduled to arrive on nearly a week-long visit to the US tomorrow to interact with the US corporate world in New York and Boston and attend the annual meeting of International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington DC. With young population there is not only a perception that they are being 'under serviced', but also, they are becoming more and more aspirational, he said. "Time therefore is running against us," Jaitley said. In the next one or two decades, if India has to take a challenge for moving into a higher economic group country, "we have to grow at a much faster pace," he said. Jaitley in response to a question refuted the impression that transformational initiatives like Swachh Bharat, GST and demonetisation have not resulted in any changes on the ground. "Would you say there are long term benefits and the country would have to wait for those? Or is there any way to mitigate the problem being faced by the country," the finance minister was asked. A more serious analysis, he argued, would show that even within matter of months there is a short term positive impact of all these projects. While demonetisation and GST are having desired impact in terms of tax compliances and squeezing the quantum of cash in the economy, the minister said for the first time, Swachh Bharat campaign has brought to fore the importance of sanitation and cleanliness. Observing that sizable progress is being made in terms of sanitation and cleanliness, he said for the first time in Indian history this has become a centre stage agenda and is moving forward. The campaign is having both short term and long-term impact. "It's a movement that has become far beyond a governmental program. It a mass movement," Jaitley said. Before demonetisation, Indian normal was to live with a high cash economy, not paying taxes, "you buy a property, you transact partly in cash, and in business you maintain two sets of accounts," he said. "How can a country, which aims to be the fastest growing major economy in the world, which aspires to grow from a developing to a developed economy, continue with the normal of this type," he asked. And therefore, "you need to shake the system" in order to reduce the quantum of cash in India and therefore obviously to make it a more tax complaint society, he observed. Cash itself involves several challenges. It leads to corruption and several other problems. "Let's see for even those why say that there is no short-term advantage, has the number of tax payers in India immediately increased in the matter of months? The truth is, it has. "Has the digitisation transaction increased from Rs 70 crores to Rs 130 crores today, it almost doubled," the minister said. In the immediate aftermath of demonetisation, Jaitley said there has been sharp reduction in insurgent and terror activities in states like Jammu & Kashmir and Chhattisgarh. The funding of the terror itself has gotten squeezed, he told the Berkeley students. "You are having terrorist incidents (now), but the fact that you were finding 5,000-10,000 stone throwers being provided with money by the terrorist organisations, why is it that in the last eight-10 months it has not happened?" he asked. Moving on to GST, the minister said this has resulted in creation of a national tax structure. "In the three months, you have all the check points in states disappeared, you have clear flow of goods and services which has started all over the country," he said, adding that companies are sharing information about the distributors and retailers. Slowly the whole chain is becoming, he said, adding that today many more people have registered themselves. Acknowledging that the problem with them is related to compliance burden, Jaitley said the GST Council has noted these challenges and is taking steps to address them. "But in terms of cash collection, the whole process going online, the process of coming down, one thing I can tell you the tendency of some to have the whole chain operate in cash will suffer a setback," Jaitley said. GST, he said, has been a "reasonable smooth transformation," but there is scope for improvement. "I think in GST Council we have succeeded in creating India's first federal institution," he said. The transition, he said, would be a far more successful experience which will plug the holes into India's taxation system. Responding to questions, Jaitley said the Indian government wants to encourage startups. Jaitley said India now has an aspirational population which wants changes and reforms at a fast pace itself, but also are impatient in this regard. "The obvious challenge to the country is to grow and grow fast. It has to grow at a much higher rate than we have been growing in recent history," he said adding that the benefits of the growth must also reach that section of the population which till date has been the least serviced one. India, he told the Berkeley students has transformed out of a more conservative mindset and is not tuned to getting integrated globally much more than it was in the past. Therefore, policies with regard to technologies and getting investment into India are much broader than they have been in the past, he said. Observing that conventionally India was a far more difficult place to do business, he said that situation has substantially improved for the better. Identifying corruption as one of the two stigmas for India, Jaitley said the institutional mechanism to fight corruption has become much stronger. Asserting that direct taxes have to become "more rational and more reasonable" the minister said he has already announced a road map to bring down the corporate tax to about 25 per cent and is trying to ensure that India becomes a far more compliance society and also tax assessment is more technology driven rather than human interaction.
Source : Financial Express
The lowering of GST rates on man-made yarn and job works on zari items and accelerated refunds will provide immediate relief to apparel exporters, the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) said today. The GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprising the state counterparts as members, had on Friday last cut rates on 27 items. These included lowering the rates on man-made yarn to 12 per cent from 18 per cent as well as zari job work to 5 per cent from the 12 per cent earlier. “The changes will give a great relief to the apparel industry for the immediate term as the sector has been facing severe liquidity crunch after the introduction of GST,” AEPC Chairman Ashok Rajani said. AEPC also demanded that the government look into the issue of embedded taxes on exports.
Source: Financial Express
New Delhi: The government will clear pending GST refunds of exporters by November-end and over the next six months no tax will be levied on exports as the Council has decided to revert to the pre-GST era, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said. Over July-August, an estimated Rs. 67,000 crore has accumulated as the Integrated GST (IGST), of which only about Rs. While no tax will has to be paid on goods to be exported in the remaining months of current fiscal, from April 1 an e-wallet service will be launched that will give exporters notional credits that can be used to pay GST, he said. The credit in the wallet would be transferable. 5,000-10,000 crore will be due as refunds to exporters, he told PTI in an interview here. The Goods and Services Tax (GST), the amalgamation of over a dozen indirect taxes like excise duty and VAT, does not provide for any exemptions, and so exporters are required to first pay Integrated-GST (IGST) on manufactured goods and claim refunds after exporting them. This put severe liquidity crunch, particularly on aggregators. To ease their problems, the GST Council on Friday decided a package for them that includes extending the Advance Authorisation / Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) / 100 per cent EOU (Export Oriented Unit) schemes to sourcing inputs from abroad as well as domestic suppliers till March 31, thus not requiring to pay IGST. "For a period of 6 months we are actually reverting back to the pre-GST scenario (where manufacturing exporters or those who manufacture goods for exports did not pay any tax). So, they have no reason for any complain now," he said. A nominal 0.1 per cent tax will be levied on merchant exporter as they themselves do not manufacture. "Under GST even a merchant exporter who collects goods from many producers and exports has to pay full rate of duty and seek refund. But, he is only an aggregator. So, that was the problem and it has been sorted out," he said. Asked by when the issue of refunds to exporters would be settled, Adhia said "it will be solved in a month or two". After March 31, there will be a system of e-wallet, where a notional credit will be made into the holder's account so that the same could be used for payment of GST. The credit would be made to exporters based on their past performance or on the basis of export orders in hand, he said, adding this would mean no hard cash is spent on taxes. "It is possible that the manufacturing exporter himself has no liability to pay, but the supplier who gave him inputs may have. So, he can transfer credit (from e-wallet) to the supplier account. So, the e-wallet would be transferable, just like any other wallets, but the only restriction is that it can't be given in cash, it can be only used for payment of duty," he said. After executing the export order, a refund application will have to be made and the refund will be credited in form of credit to the same e-wallet. "So, his account will get replenished by the refund. So, the refund process will take place, but he is not deprived of funds and will not have to invest his own working capital. Liquidity will be maintained with him," he said. Adhia said with these measures, issues faced by exporters have been taken care of. "It's an innovative idea that we have come out with, while not compromising on GST's basic structure wherein ideally exemption should be given".On refunds on taxes paid already paid since introduction of GST in July, he said the rules provide that if IGST is paid on export, immediate refunds should be made. But, since that system is not ready, the refund claims of July totalling about Rs. 600 crore will start from October 10 and another Rs. However, for claiming the refunds, exporters have to fill Table 6A while filing GSTR-1 for July, August and September. 800 crore for August from October 18, he said.
Source: NDTV Profit
New Delhi: Businesses will soon be able to know which company they should not deal with if tax hassles are to be avoided. Federal indirect tax body, the goods and services tax (GST) Council is planning to implement from January a ranking of businesses based on their track record of tax payments. This ranking will enable businesses to judge how likely a material or service supplier will default on its tax payment obligations which could result in blockage of tax rebates if these items are sourced from them, an official who attends Council meetings said on condition of anonymity. The ranking system is being worked out as a solution to complaints from companies that the tax rebates due to them are getting blocked for no fault of theirs because their suppliers who charged tax-inclusive prices have not remitted taxes to the government. Although tax authorities recognize that it is unfair to deny rebate to a company which has already paid indirect tax to its vendor, they are unable to grant the benefit as it will hurt the exchequer.Firstly, the tax that ought to have come in from one of the parties to a transaction hasn’t been received and secondly, the other party may claim refund from the government of what has been paid to its vendor. In the previous tax regime, there had also been many instances of fraud where fake invoices from vendors have been used to claim refund. The Council believes the best way is to encourage businesses to avoid dealing with crooks. Experts said the ranking system may have a flip side or two. While it will facilitate a company to know the compliance level of its vendors, it is possible that businesses that have not paid certain taxes due to genuine alternative interpretation of law may get a poor score. “It is unfair to place the responsibility of good behaviour of the supplier on the buyer, who unlike the government, has no enforcement powers other than approaching a court of law,” said R. Muralidharan, senior director, Deloitte India. The ranking system should only capture defaults in payment of taxes that is collected from customers, he said. The GST compliance rating system, for which an enabling provision has been made in section 149 of the Central GST Act was not implemented at the time of launching the new tax system from 1 July as the cycle of tax return filing is yet to get stabilized. “Only when the cycle of return filing settles down over the next few months, the authorities will get to know the level of compliance of assesses,” said Bipin Sapra, tax partner at the consulting firm EY.
Source: Live Mint
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council will actively discourage any further tweaks in rates, following a major revamp of the indirect tax regime on Friday to help small industries and exporters. A concept paper adopted by the council says no manufactured goods should be given outright exemption as this would hinder the Make in India initiative. States should opt for direct subsidy transfers if they want to reduce tax incidence on any item. This suggests that companies looking for such breaks like Apple would not be able to get any outright tax exemptions. “The whole idea is to look at the issue of rate revision afresh... There should be no ad hocism in rate revision,“ said a government official familiar with the thinking behind the concept paper that will guide changes to tax rates from now on. The key principles in the concept paper include one that manufactured goods should not be placed in the nil bracket as it would then face nil customs duty , impacting the domestic manufacturing adversely. “As a rule no manufactured good shall be exempt from GST,“ according to the paper, which was approved by the council on Friday. ET has seen a copy of the paper. On Friday , the council raised the composition scheme threshold to Rs 1 crore from Rs 75 lakh, allowed smaller businesses with a turnover of up to Rs 1.5 crore to pay tax and file returns quarterly instead of monthly and exempted exporters from payment of tax under various promotion schemes among other decisions. The changes in GST, which was rolled out nationally on July 1, were made in re sponse to industry feedback. Any revision will also be carried out keeping in view that there is no blockage of input tax credit or the creation of an inverted duty structure in which input is higher than the finished product, the officials said. Further, changes in tax rates will be considered after a period of at least three months, allowing them to settle in first. The concept paper stated that the GST rate of 28% should be reviewed after three months based on the criteria that have been decided. Goods that yield high revenue, luxury goods and sin goods will not be considered for revision despite being in the highest rate bracket. Revision could be considered for goods of mass consumption or public interest; intermediate goods that are used in business-to-business supplies; goods manufactured by small and medium enterprises; and export-related items. Tax experts said this will keep the tax structure stable. “Frequent and ad hoc changes in GST rates are definitely not desirable... This mechanism would ensure that some general guidelines are followed for deciding the rates in future, while making an exception if needed,“ said Pratik Jain, leader, indirect taxes, PwC. Jain hopes that many items in the 28% slab will move to the lower bracket of 18%. “Benefits of GST can only be realised if rates are moderate,“ Jain said. The council had decided on fitment of goods based on the principle of equivalence--tax incidence prior to launch of GST. GST has four rate slabs--5, 12%, 18% and 28%. There have been changes in a number of goods after the roll out based on representations received from the industry. The council moved more than two dozen items to lower slabs on Friday.
Source: Economic Times
The goods and services tax (GST) breather given to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and exporters will address their liquidity issues, improve efficiencies and act as a shot-in-the-arm for the economy as a whole, analysts said. The GST Council on Friday hiked the threshold turnover for the composition scheme that allows SMEs to pay 1-5 per cent tax without going through tedious formalities. The government's move to relax IGST for six months and faster processing of refunds for exporters would address their liquidity issues and improve business efficiencies in the short-term, analysts at ratings agency Crisil said. "Also, reducing compliance burden for SMEs would widen the tax base under GST," it said in a report. The government has also eased the filing process for SMEs with a turnover of Rs 1.5 crore from monthly to quarterly. The turnover limit for availing the composition scheme has been hiked from Rs 75 lakh to Rs 1 crore, enabling SMEs to pay taxes at concessional rates. Both these moves would widen the taxpayer base, according to Crisil. The government had earlier mandated reverse charge mechanism under which large entities pay taxes on behalf of their supplies from unregistered SMEs, creating an additional tax burden on large entities. Hence, they were preferring not to route through unregistered SMEs. "The latest GST Council meeting removed the reverse charge mechanism up to March 2018, which provides a short term relief to SME," Crisil added. Industry experts also applauded these initiatives. "With measures to ease liquidity for exporters, improving ease of compliances for small tax payers, deferment of certain onerous provisions such as e-way bill, reverse charge and rationalisation of rates including man-made yarns, the Council meeting is a shot-in-the-arm for the economy," said Priyajit Ghosh, partner-indirect taxes at KPMG India. The government has also provided some measures to give liquidity respite to exporters, which has come as a welcome move by way of speedier refunds of input credits. "The levy of IGST has been exempted for six months for exporters on imports until further clarity is provided by government. This indeed benefits various exporters who were required to pay IGST without proper justification for such levy," Rashmi Deshpande of Khaitan & Co said. She also said deferment of e-way bill provisions till April 2018 is meaningful as this was under consideration for a very long time and the six-month window will allow the stakeholders to clearly understand the process. Pratik Jain, indirect tax leader at PwC India, said though the threshold under composition scheme has been increased to Rs 1 crore, to make this scheme really effective, it needs to be liberalised more by including all service providers and allowing them to undertake inter-state supplies. "Deferring the e-way bills till April is welcome and industry would hope that the GST Council would carry out a detailed study for the need of such a system and a decision would be taken after proper consultation with all the stakeholders," he said.
Source: Business Standard
Businesses with an annual turnover of less than Rs 1.5 crore have now been permitted to file quarterly returns, instead of every month. Business is all about sentiment and the “animal spirits” that encourage firms to make investments that are essentially a gamble on the future. Today, that risk-taking appetite among Indian businessmen has weakened to the point where new investment project announcements during July-September were the lowest for any quarter in over 13 years, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. Much of that diminished confidence, right or wrong, has been courtesy the problems encountered in complying with the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime — whether it relates to filing of returns or the cumbersome procedures for claiming refunds for taxes paid on input purchases. It is welcome, therefore, to see the NDA government at least acknowledging that firms, especially the smaller ones, are facing a genuine “compliance burden”. Some of that burden has, no doubt, been reduced by the decisions taken by the GST Council headed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in its Friday meeting. Thus, businesses with an annual turnover of less than Rs 1.5 crore have now been permitted to file quarterly returns, instead of every month. The turnover threshold for availing of the so-called composition scheme —which allows small manufacturers, goods traders and eateries to pay tax at a flat 1-5 per cent rate without going through the normal tedious GST procedures — has been raised from Rs 75 lakh to Rs 1 crore. Also, the reverse charge mechanism — under which receivers of goods and services are liable to pay tax on supplies by unregistered vendors, thereby discouraging large companies from sourcing from such small entities — has been deferred till March 31, 2018. The other significant relief granted has been to exporters. They have been promised that all held-up refunds of integrated GST paid on exported goods will be expeditiously cleared. This, along with the creation of a proposed “e-wallet” facility from April 1 — in the form of an advance refund or notional credit that can be used to pay IGST and GST on inputs — may somewhat address the severe working capital blockage currently being experienced by exporters. Diwali Has Come Early For Us Due To Gst Decisions: PM ModiBut all these essentially constitute reactive measures. Was the Modi government so unaware of the problems that a poorly designed GST was bound to create? Yes, it may have been the work of incompetent bureaucrats. Only they could, perhaps, have thought of having as many as five tax slabs from zero to 28 per cent and introducing provisions such as “invoice matching”, under which a purchaser cannot claim input credit unless the supplier’s invoice details match the former’s invoice uploaded on the GST portal. But the back-to-back implementation of both demonetisation and GST were ultimately political calls. If these have adversely impacted business sentiment — and the multiple tax slabs, invoice matching mechanism and glitches in the GST Network still remain — the government has to take equal blame and address the issues upfront.
Source: The Indian Express
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) has been re-written even as it completes 100 days post roll out. Not only have the tax rates been changed a number of times for over 100 goods and services, but some of the rules too have been brought back to the levels of pre-GST era. For example, in exports. Some obscurely ambitious by-laws under the new tax regime have been struck off or kept at bay for a longer period so that they die their own death in due course. For example, the reverse charge mechanism, where the recipient of the goods and/or services is liable to pay GST instead of the supplier. The all powerful GST Council, in its 22nd meeting on Friday, which was a crucial one that continued for about nine hours without a break, almost overhauled the GST rules. Neither the GST appeared the same after this meeting nor the tone and tenor of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Only time will tell whether these changes are permanent in nature or just a patch work with a limited shelf life, but critics were quick to attribute these to the upcoming Assembly elections, especially in Gujarat, the home turf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Taking a cursory glance at changes in tax rates, one can say that Gujarat may have been a forceful factor behind the changes. For example, reduction in rates of man-made filament, synthetic yarn and fibre, which goes into manufacturing of man-made textiles, of which Gujarat is a hub. Further, lowering of tariffs of at least two food items, including khakhra, a staple breakfast item in the state. Also, concessions to exporters prima facie point to a leaning towards Gujarat. The state contributes almost 12% to India's textile exports, and it has a massive presence in gems and jewellery exports, diamonds in particular. But again it is too myopic to think that national policies are shaped up taking into account a particular state. Instead, a more comprehensive analysis of the GST in the 100 days of its roll out did suggest that the new tax regime had some inherent weaknesses. And, timing wise, it proved grossly inadequate. Manufacturers had halted production and went for massive de-stocking ahead of the GST roll out, at a time when demonetisation had already had an adverse impact on industries. Ever since its roll out, through the periodic GST Council meetings, experts kept warning about the adverse impact of certain rules such as monthly returns, matching of invoices and a plethora of new taxes on exporters and job workers. But the government dismissed all that as “minor hiccups” which, they said, would settle down in the first three months. It was only when a web of problems complicated things, the GST revenues started taking a hit and the economic growth plummeted below a psychological 6% level that the government admitted to undoing of some of the GST mistakes. Forthcoming elections in crucial states, of course, accelerated the pace of things. The prime minister asked the GST Council to review the problems being faced by traders, issues in technology or filling the form. And the GST Council decided to remove exactly those problems, which experts kept pointing out since July 1. The unworkable monthly tax returns were withdrawn for small and medium traders, giving relief to about 90-95% of the GST filers. Implementation of e-way bill was postponed, realising that the existing electronic system in the country was woefully inadequate. Also laid to rest was reverse charge mechanism, at least for now. And most significantly, exports, the hardest hit after the GST implementation, were heard. Under the VAT regime, exporters exported at their will, but under the GST regime, they had to execute a letter of undertaking subject to eligibility or a bond with bank guarantee to export. The first set of tax credit has not been handed out to the exporters, and the finance minister said it will be given to them sometime next week. The situation became so bad that the premier exporters body FIEO went and told the finance minister it was going to lay off employees before Deepavali. A heavy tax on job works started cutting jobs in labour intensive industries. But the prime minister's intervention forced the GST Council to drop most of these clauses. A more serious problem that still remains is the multiple rate of taxation and higher rates of slabs. A lower rate of taxation can only spur demand and stimulate production. Hopefully, the GST Council will take it sooner than later. Analysts say the GST in next 100 days must strive to do away with any kind of tax that cannot be easily monitored.
Source: Deccan Herald
CHENNAI: The broad changes announced to the structure of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime continued to elicit appreciation from a wide swath of industry bodies on Saturday. The big bang reliefs offered to exporters came in for particular attention, from the textile industry in particular. The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (Texprocil) welcomed the Centre’s decision to provide relief and resolving the liquidity issues faced by the textile exporters. “We are happy that the government has provided far-reaching relief to the exporting community at the GST Council meeting on Friday,” Texprocil chairman Ujwal Lahoti said, adding that the processing of refunds by October 10 and October 18 would go a long way in solving exporters’ liquidity issues. Lahoti also said the facility given to the merchant exporters, who account for almost 40 per cent of India’s textile exports, to pay a nominal amount of 0.1 per cent as GST while claiming goods from manufacturers for export goods will ensure that they do not face cash flow problems. The other measures like exempting export promotion schemes like advance authorisation scheme; EPCG from the payment of GST up to March 31, 2018 should lead to a spurt in investments, he added. Meanwhile. the Southern India Mills Association (SIMA) said that the reduced rate of GST for MMF yarn from 18 to 12 per cent would benefit the spinning and power loom sector. SIMA chairman P Nataraj pointed out that man-made fibres (MMF) and yarns were slotted under 18 per cent GST rate while the fabrics under five per cent with a condition that no refund of Input Tax Credit would be allowed at fabric stage. This was creating a huge “inverted duty problem for the synthetic sector” and inflating the cost of synthetic products that already had serious threat by cheaper imports. The clarification that gems and jewellery purchases above Rs 50,000 do not require PAN also came in for praise. The jewellery industry on Saturday termed it as a positive step which will boost the festive sales. “This is a great news for the industry and we are thankful to the government for this decision. This is a positive step and will help boost the market sentiment. We look forward to good business during festive season,” All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF) Chairman Nitin Khandelwal said. The government rolled back August 23 notification that notified dealers in precious metals, precious stones and other high value goods as persons carrying on designated business and professions under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, on Friday night.
Source: The Indian Express
A day after overhauling Goods and Services Tax (GST), the Centre on Saturday asked for nine-month time to enable the government to make the national tax law glitch free. Addressing India Inc on Saturday at the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Shiv Pratap Shukla, Minister of State for Finance, said government was in the process of removing all glitches and loopholes in GST implementation. He urged the people not to measure the new tax regime with cynicism. He also indicated that 28 per cent GST slab is bound to be reduced gradually as the GST Council will evolve alternative mechanism once the tax collections streamlines. "The people of India and Indian industry in particular should not measure the execution of GST in its first phase of three months since it is a vast tax reform after independence. The government should be given a minimum of one year time for it to perfect the implementation leading to a win-win situation for all stakeholders," the minister said. He said the GST Council has already taken pro-active measures in rationalising GST rates, and assured that the trend would continue wherever taxation is on the higher side. "The 28 per cent GST slab will fall as per genuine and legitimate aspirations of the people in general and industry in particular," Naqvi said. Industrialist and president of PHD Chamber Gopal Jiwarajka said there has been mixed impact on various sectors. He also called for a 'surgical strike' rather than piecemeal measures to remove the anomalies. Earlier on Friday, the GST council that met here for seven hours chaired by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley with the state finance ministers as ministers, decided to fine tune the law and bring it in line with Prime Minister Modi's goal of "ease of business" as that may also help the economy claw out of a 3-year long growth slump.
Source: DNA
Exports of textile machinery are expected to pick up this fiscal, after a year of marginal growth due to tepid international demand in 2016-2017. According to data available with the Textile Machinery Manufacturers’ Association, machinery exports in 2016-2017 were worth ₹2,438 crore compared with ₹2,351 crore the previous year. Total production of textile machinery in the country was to the tune of ₹6,650 crore, including spares and accessories. S. Chakraborty, secretary for the association, said the international market did not see much growth last year. Further, for exports to grow in a particular market, the manufacturers needed to have local facilities to provide after sales and service support. This year, export of equipment for spinning, spinning accessories, weaving preparatory and of other accessories was likely to see an increase in the range of about 15-20%, he said. The association data also showed that only about 32% of domestic demand was met indigenously. Imports amounted to ₹10,098 crore in the last fiscal year.
Imports from China
Mr. Chakraborty said China had been a big supplier of looms as they were available at very low prices. Accessories and spares from China were also coming into India in large quantities, he said. Demonetisation and GST had hampered domestic investments, he said. However, this was expected to correct in five to six months and investments would pick up, he added. Textile industry sources said the Centre should promote local manufacturing of machinery through foreign direct investment or joint ventures. While spinning and processing machinery were mostly available in the country, machinery for weaving and garment sectors were largely imported.
Source: The Hindu
Jaipur: Rajasthan industries minister Rajpal Singh Shekhawat said that the recent GST council meeting had accepted many of the recommendations of the state government and state's industry, especially gems and jewellery, textile and tourism sector would benefit from the decisions. He said, jewellery business has been kept out of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and now purchases up to Rs 2 lakh do not require any PAN numbers. This is a big boost to the state before Diwali which is known for its gems and jewellery business. Earlier, PAN was necessary for purchases over Rs 50,000. He said similarly the reduction in the GST rate for air conditioned restaurants with a turnover of Rs 1.5 lakh from 18% to 5% would be a benefit the state's tourism sector. He said the reduction in GST for the yarn to fabrics sector from 18% to 12% and unbranded Namkeen from 12% to 5% is a blessing to the people of the state. Ayurvedic medicines will now attract 5% GST instead of 12%.The minister claimed that the traders and business men in the state had welcomed the GST and there is a growth of about a lakh increase in GST registration. He said the number of registered traders before GST was 5.36 lakh which has grown to 6.22 lakh post GST regime. He admitted that here was a liquidity crisis with the traders and exporters due to the delay in input tax credit which was being seriously taken up in the council meeting. He said a new software called e-wallet is being developed to address this issue. He said the exporters would get tax refund from October 10. The industry minister whether there was a time limit for including petroleum products and liquor in the GST he said there is still very strong opposition from the petroleum producing states as their income is heavily depended on the revenue from this sector. But the said once the tax base broadens and revenue receipts spread out there is chances of these states also agreeing for GST inclusion and soon these products also brought under GST which will bring relief to the people.
Source: The Times of India
It is likely that the Indian textiles and apparel exports to Canada may double by 2020, according to North American Brands Group, organiser of Apparel Textile Souring Canada (ATSC) fair. The exporters of India have a huge scope for expansion and growth to fill the gaps in the Canadian texiles and apparel market including its FTA partners."Canada’s FTA with the United States, Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica and Honduras contain tariff preference level (TPL) provisions for certain textile and apparel goods being imported or exported within the respective free trade zones. TPL-eligible goods are goods that do not meet the requirements of the FTA Rules of Origin but can still receive the same preferential tariff treatment as goods from the country of origin, up to a negotiated quantity," said John Banker, director, ATSC. "The total value of apparel production in Canada continues to decrease while apparel imports continue to increase," added Banker. Since 2011, apparel imports have increased by C$3.4 billion or 8.3 per cent annually (average) to total $12.5 billion in 2015. Between 2010 and 2014, the total number of establishments contracted by approximately 12 per cent or 199 establishments. In 2015, approximately 20,000 employees were employed in the sector. The ATSC fair supported by the Indian High Commission in Canada, emerged as a great platform for manufacturers to interact directly with the Canadian buyers and fashion and apparel experts. The Indian participants attracted interest from brands like Aritzia, Le Chateau, Walmart-Canada, Jockey-Canada, Gildan, Canadian Goose and Roots. The new Canadian buyers who visited the fair this time included, Assent Lebel, Attraction, Cananda Goose, YKK, New Era Cap, Ozeol, Remco, etc from the apparel, textiles fashion and accessories areas. It was seen that 45 per cent of the visitors were looking for apparel, 32 per cent for accessories and 23 per cent for textiles. The other countries that participated included China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the US, the UK, Canada, Turkey, Jordan, Switzerland, Vietnam, Nepal, etc. "The post show report reveals that the Apparel Textile Sourcing Canada (ATSC) fair was a huge success; the fair expanded by more than 50 per cent from last year. Also, visitors’ growth was more than 67 per cent compared to previous fair, depicting huge potential that Canada as a market has for apparel and textiles. The increase in the number of participants clearly indicated the value that the event brings to manufacturers," said Banker. "We are the sole partner responsible for Indian Pavilion for the coming year’s trade fair. We will be helping the Indian manufacturers to connect with the North American market, on continued basis. There are huge opportunities for Indian exporters; the apparel and textiles exports from India to Canada, is slated to double by 2020," said Dr Anurag Sinha, president and Sandeep Keshari, director, North American Brands Group, who represented at the second edition of ATSC as the organising partner. The next edition of the fair will be held in 20- 22 August, 2018 in Toronto. (RR)
Source: Fibre2Fashion
The international crude oil price of Indian Basket as computed/published today by Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas was US$ 55.27 per barrel (bbl) on 6.10.2017. This was higher than the price of US$ 55.23 per bbl on previous publishing day of 5.10.2017.
In rupee terms, the price of Indian Basket increased to Rs. 3605.01 per bbl on 6.10.2017 as compared to Rs. 3599.47 per bbl on 5.10.2017. Rupee closed weaker at Rs. 65.23 per US$ on 6.10.2017 as compared to 65.18 per US$ on 5.10.2017. The table below gives details in this regard:
|
Particulars |
Unit |
Price on October 6, 2017 (Previous trading day i.e. 5.10.2017) |
|
Crude Oil (Indian Basket) |
($/bbl) |
55.27 (55.23) |
|
(Rs/bbl) |
3605.01 (3599.47) |
|
|
Exchange Rate |
(Rs/$) |
65.23 (65.18) |
Source: PIB
Cotton trading in Adilabad will commence on October 9, provided there is no rainfall that day. The decision on opening of markets was taken at a meeting of traders, farmers, officials and others chaired by Forest Minister Jogu Ramanna. The issue of moisture content of cotton was discussed at length. Moisture content in cotton has been an irritant in the trade since the Cotton Corporation of India and private traders started implementing the rule. Ideally, the CCI purchases cotton which has a moisture per cent ranging between 8 and 12 and rejects the produce which crosses the upper limits. Mr. Ramanna urged the CCI and traders to relax the trend and purchase cotton which has moisture content up to 16 per cent.
Source: The Hindu
In yet another meeting with cotton traders and officials concerned Forest Minister Jogu Ramanna asked them to ensure that farmers get at least minimum support price for the produce they bring in on Monday when trading is scheduled to start. He also asked them to ensure that farmers are not constrained at the market yard owing to lack of facilities.
Source: The Hindu
|
Item |
Price |
Unit |
Fluctuation |
Date |
|
PSF |
1346.15 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/8/2017 |
|
VSF |
2426.38 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/8/2017 |
|
ASF |
2644.22 |
USD/Ton |
10% |
10/8/2017 |
|
Polyester POY |
1267.27 |
USD/Ton |
-0.06% |
10/8/2017 |
|
Nylon FDY |
3335.33 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/8/2017 |
|
40D Spandex |
5784.24 |
USD/Ton |
1.32% |
10/8/2017 |
|
Polyester DTY |
2779.44 |
USD/Ton |
8.82% |
10/8/2017 |
|
Nylon POY |
1630.10 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/8/2017 |
|
Acrylic Top 3D |
3395.42 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/8/2017 |
|
Polyester FDY |
5679.07 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/8/2017 |
|
Nylon DTY |
1524.94 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/8/2017 |
|
Viscose Long Filament |
3004.80 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/8/2017 |
|
30S Spun Rayon Yarn |
3019.82 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/8/2017 |
|
32S Polyester Yarn |
2022.23 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/8/2017 |
|
45S T/C Yarn |
2869.58 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/8/2017 |
|
40S Rayon Yarn |
3185.09 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/8/2017 |
|
T/R Yarn 65/35 32S |
2418.86 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/8/2017 |
|
45S Polyester Yarn |
2163.46 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/8/2017 |
|
T/C Yarn 65/35 32S |
2433.89 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
10/8/2017 |
|
10S Denim Fabric |
1.41 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
10/8/2017 |
|
32S Twill Fabric |
0.87 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
10/8/2017 |
|
40S Combed Poplin |
1.22 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
10/8/2017 |
|
30S Rayon Fabric |
0.68 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
10/8/2017 |
|
45S T/C Fabric |
0.72 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
10/8/2017 |
Source: Global Textiles
Note: The above prices are Chinese Price (1 CNY = 0.15024 USD dtd. 08/10/2017). The prices given above are as quoted from Global Textiles.com. SRTEPC is not responsible for the correctness of the same.
KARACHI: Value-added textile export associations have welcomed approval of the export package for 2017-18, but suggest it is a short-term solution to a long-term problem. “The long-term solution is to reduce the cost of inputs like electricity, gas and water tariffs,” said a joint statement issued by the associations on Saturday. The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet approved the export package on Thursday in a bid to give a boost to shrinking exports of the country. Boosting exports Legislators stress modern techniquesUnder the package, 50% of the incentive will be offered to eligible textile and non-textile exporters on the same terms as given for the period January to June 2017 without the condition of 10% increase in shipments. The remaining 50% of the incentive will be provided if an exporter achieves increase of 10% or more in shipments compared to the corresponding period of previous year. In the statement, Pakistan Apparel Forum, Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association and others said an additional 2% duty drawback on exports to non-traditional markets like Africa, Latin America, non-EU countries, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Oceania as well as expeditious settlement of payment claims were great initiatives of the government. The incentive amount should be credited to the exporter account at the time of realisation of export proceeds as all export-related information were submitted online and available with the government, the statement said. They urged the government to take on board the stakeholders while drafting and finalising the Duty Drawback of Taxes Order 2017-18 and share the draft for review.
Textile sector assured of timely refunds
They proposed that the government should bring the cost of inputs up to 20% in order to bring it on a par with those faced by regional competitors.
Source: The Express Tribune
Cotton farmers in border-lying areas of Mashonaland Central have admitted to side-marketing the crop for which they received free inputs under the Presidential Well Wishers Agricultural Inputs Scheme through Cottco to Mozambique. The farmers appealed to Government to improve payment modalities to reduce cases of smuggling of the crop to neighbouring countries. The farmers were supported with free inputs under the Presidential Well Wishers Agricultural Inputs Scheme, but during marketing this year some of them ended up smuggling the crop to Mozambique where cash was available. Locally, they paid mainly through mobile network operator Econet’s EcoCash platform. Some of the affected farmers said there was poor Econet network in their areas and could not transact using EcoCash, while others said retailers in the area refused to accept the payment method. Muzarabani farmer Mr Dumbura Saunda said the use of Ecocash was new to most farmers, who did not understand how the whole process worked. “There is also poor network in our area and carrying out transactions is difficult,” he said. “Maybe, the service provider should improve network for the system to be more efficient. Some of the farmers had to climb trees to be able to get network connection and carry out transactions. Some of the elderly people did not even understand how to transact using the system and had to seek assistance from other people, which is not safe as it involves disclosing their secret access numbers.” Other farmers complained that local schools and clinics did not accept plastic money and only required cash if they wanted to pay school fees. Mrs Rambayi Maunganidze from the same area said she was charged between 12 and 15 percent whenever she used EcoCash to buy groceries. “We could not get cash, but whenever we bought goods we were charged and this disadvantaged us,” she said. “It is better if we could get part of the money in cash.” Mr Takunda Chaneta said some farmers smuggled cotton to Mozambique and Zambia because there was ready cash. “Cottco offered 47 cents per kilogramme, but Mozambican buyers offered 50 cents per kg and people were paid cash upon delivery,” he said. “The Mozambican buyers had lots of our bond notes, US dollars and Meticals (Mozambican currency) and farmers could choose the currency they wanted to be paid in. “Farmers smuggled the crop because of desperation. We do not want to destroy the company which is empowering us, but sometimes we are forced by circumstances to side-market. The farmers said they were assisted to smuggle the cotton by Mozambican officials who patrol the borders popularly known as “magwarimba”. Other farmers in the Ganganyama area of Rushinga said collection points were far away from their farms and it was easier to sell to Mozambique. “It was easy for farmers to sell the cotton in Mozambique considering that we are only six kilometres away from the buying point. I have to travel 11 kilometres to the nearest Cottco depot. Mozambican dealers set buying points nearer Zimbabwe to lure farmers. There should be mobile collection points to assist some of us who stay in the border-lying areas,” said the farmer. Some Mozambican farmers in Mafigu said they sometimes smuggled their cotton to Zimbabwe where the market was lucrative, but this season the plastic money was not favourable to them.
Source: Senior Agriculture Reporter,
The textile industry has been one of the hardest hit by the worsening foreign currency crisis in Zimbabwe as companies struggle to access money to import raw materials Zimbabwe is facing a serious shortage of foreign currency, which gave birth to the black market where United States dollars are being sold at exorbitant rates. Although the government has moved in to arrest the practice, big businesses continue to suffer as banks are unable to give them foreign currency. government prioritises other sectors other than the textile sector despite its potential to create employment and to earn the country the much-needed foreign currency. A snap survey by Standardbusiness last week showed that the majority of companies were likely to close shop if government failed to move with speed to contain the situation. Doreen Eeson of Waverley Blankets said things were looking extremely bleak and their production had been greatly affected as they cannot get foreign currency for raw materials. The company has been in business for nearly 20 years, servicing both the government and private sector. "At least 800 families rely on us; stocks of raw materials are running dangerously low," Eeson said. "It is very unfortunate that businesses that do not add value, such as packers and distributors are getting full allocation at the cost of genuine value adding manufacturers who cannot access foreign currency for vital raw materials such as yarn, dyes and chemicals." She added: "We are confident that soon the government and [Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe] RBZ will come to our rescue to avert looming disasters." Joe Vas of Twine & Cordage said things were increasingly becoming harder for those who do not fall under critical industries that the government was prioritising. "Yes [there is that problem]. We have to generate our own foreign currency to be able to acquire our raw materials," he said. Kingsport Investment boss Kingston Mhako said the future was looking bleak. The company is in the business of knitting T-shirt fabric and then turning it into finished products. "We are affected by this situation and even after export, we are failing to access money to buy raw materials. Banks are giving us a raw deal; they are turning a deaf ear on us and they are not paying attention to our needs," he said. "In my case, I wrote letters to the bank so as to import a machine, which was going to help Zimbabwe as an import substitution, especially when we are facing elections. "You find that most political parties end up going to China to import already made T-shirts but the machine we were bringing was going to increase production and there was no need to go and import. "We would have had the capacity to make 10 000 T-shirts a day."
Source: All Africa.com
Half a million dollars of prison-grown cotton was one of the quiet casualties of Hurricane Harvey. With it went some 300 acres of unharvested corn and a miscellany of other vegetables, altogether signifying a substantial loss to the farming program that helps Texas Department of Criminal Justice be self-sufficient in its prisoner food and clothing needs. “As it stands right now, we’ll have to be strategic in how we use our inventory,” said Bobby Lumpkin, director of TDCJ’s agribusiness division. The floodwaters, which forced evacuations from five prisons along the Brazos River, wreaked havoc on farming operations at TDCJ facilities in Brazoria and Walker counties, officials said. Wind and water destroyed row crops in fields at the Darrington, Scott and Ellis units, as well as at the evacuated Ramey, Terrell and Stringfellow units. As the Category 4 storm barreled toward Southeast Texas, the prison system did its best to save the year’s yield. “We did everything we could to harvest everything we could before the storm set in,” Lumpkin said. But all told, TDCJ lost around 40 percent of its 2017 cotton crop — or 2,700 acres. Typically, the cotton is harvested by prisoners and sent along to prison-run factories where it’s made into clothes for inmates. This year, TDCJ will compensate for the loss by using untouched stores from past years. “We still had cotton in inventory from the last crop season,” Lumpkin said. In a worst-case scenario, theoretically TDCJ could be forced to buy cotton from elsewhere in order to continue its clothing production operations — but so far that’s never happened and prison officials don’t anticipate that it will. It’s likely that the only effect going forward will be a shift in crop plans for next year as the prison system looks to replenish its stores, Lumpkin said. In some ways, the timing of the storm was lucky — at least in terms of its impact on prison farming operations. “When we had our Memorial Day floods in May and June, our corn and milo was still in the field and had not been harvested, so that was a substantial impact,” Lumpkin said. “This year, being able to get the corn and milo out of the fields lessened the impact overall; but because of the cotton season, the timing of the event caused us to take the biggest hit on our cotton crops.” This year, green beans, carrots and corn had already been harvested — and those foods might just play a bigger role in the inmate diets in the near future. The lost crops — squash, okra, eggplant, peas and peppers — will be a little scarcer. “At the end of the day, TDCJ was pretty lucky considering how significant a storm Harvey was and the amount of rainfall that fell,” spokesman Jason Clark said. “At the end of the day, we came out OK.”
Source: San Antonio Express News
Teijin Limited has announced that Teijin Frontier Co., Ltd., the Teijin group’s fibre-product converting firm, and Nantong Teijin Co., Ltd., textile manufacturing company, will partake in Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics–Autumn Edition 2017, a leading expo of apparel fabrics, to be held from October 11 to 13, 2017, in China, stands 6.2-D63 and 1-G35. Teijin Frontier will attend the show for a seventh consecutive year to exhibit a variety of special garment materials, including stretchable, shape-retaining Solotex, Deltapeak adopted in sports apparel, highly water-repellent outerwear material, materials made with Solotex, collaborative products made with the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, and undergarment materials made with Nanofront and Waveron, as their first appearance in this show. Nantong Teijin’s 15th consecutive annual stand will showcase a range of eco-friendly materials, including world-class chemically recycled polyester materials and Solotex, a partially bio-delivered material incorporating polytrimethylene terephthalate fibre. The stand will also present Microft, a moisture-permeable, water-repellent material made with high-performance microfiber, and propose new materials for fashion wear, uniforms, and knitted materials. The Teijin group will use the show to promote Teijin Frontier’s wide converting power and technical expertise with advanced spinning processing, yarn processing and finishing methods, Nantong Teijin’s differentiated materials including polyesters, and new materials and solutions such as Solotex and Deltapeak that meet diverse needs. Teijin Frontier and Nantong Teijin look forward to attracting new customers in China and expanding their global market through their participation in Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics–Autumn Edition 2017. The exhibition attracted a record 73,000 people and 4,600 companies from nearly 30 countries last year. More than 2,700 suppliers are expected to participate in the show this year.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
